National pay claim 2015

The national higher education pay talks have led to a full and final pay offer for 2015/16. The pay offer is as follows:

Pay rates for all staff covered by the HE national agreement would be increased from 1 August 2015 by 1%

Points 1 – 8 of the pay spine would also be increased as detailed below. This would bring point 1 to the current rate of the Living Wage (£7.85) in those HEIs that have a 35 hour working week, which equates to an uplift of 2.6%.

Post 92 HEIs that pay London Weighting in line with the national agreement (such as London Metropolitan University) are recommended to increase London Weighting by 1%. Pre 92 HEIs are not subject to national negotiations on London Weighting. UNISON will discuss next steps on this issue.

Pay related equality matters

To conclude work started in 2014/15 and both parties to work together to undertake the following joint work:

Joint review of the 2014 HE pay data that will include an expanded section on the gender pay gap, exploring gaps between job levels and information on occupation segregation.

Look at ways to improve collection of data and analysis of evidence of hourly paid and casual staff.

Branch consultation arrangements

The Higher Education Service Group Executive agreed that this pay offer is the best that can be achieved by negotiation and that any improvement will only be secured by sustained strike action.

UNISONs longstanding policy is to consult with branches once we receive a final pay offer. The consultation closed on 26 June 2015, with members voting overwhelmingly to accept the offer, both locally and nationally. Payroll will implement the increase in January 2016.

The more members UNISON has in our workplace, the stronger and more effective we will be in discussions with the employers. Tell your colleagues why you are in the union and encourage them to join. Potential members can join instantly by calling 0800 171 2193 or join online at https://join.unison.org.uk.